216. Editorial Note
On August 30, Prime Minister Eden notified President Eisenhower that Great Britain would be sending to Canton Island two long-range aircraft which would “carry out a photographic reconnaissance of certain British islands in the Central Pacific which may be suitable as sites for testing thermo-nuclear weapons,” and asked the President to inform Lewis L. Strauss, Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, and Admiral Arthur W. Radford, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, of the purpose of these flights. In his reply on August 31, the President assured the Prime Minister “that this government has no objection to your carrying on the aerial explorations from Canton Island that you have described.” (Eisenhower Library, Whitman File, International File)